Sir John Croft, 1st Baronet, DL, FRS (1778–1862) was an English diplomat, and spy for Wellington against Napoleon.
He was born in Porto, Portugal, the son of John Croft, merchant, and Henrietta Maria, daughter of James Tunstall.
[3] In 1810 in the midst of the Peninsular Wars he met Charles Stuart, the British Minister to Portugal, who invited him to undertake a six-month espionage operation along the entire north coast of Spain from Corunna to the French border.
His task was to organise a network of agents to report details of French troop movements to Stuart who, in turn, would sort them and pass them to Wellington.
[4] Letters and documents confirming this history are contained in the archives of The Fladgate Partnership, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal and the Croft family records, as well as in the Factory House.